T. GRIEKSPOOR/A. Zverev
6-7, 6-2, 6-4
Q. Can you put into perspective your result today? How do you explain it?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: To be honest, I expected not to play well this week. I said it before the tournament started, and though I played very well the last couple of months, I took a little bit of time off. And I practiced then, but it's tough competition.
Yeah. I didn't expect to play well. I also didn't expect to play this bad, to be honest. I think this was probably the worst match of the season that I've had this year. I didn't have many bad matches, but this one was up there as the worst.
But that's okay. It's a process. To be honest, tennis comes with ups and downs. I'm very happy with how the last couple of months were. Now it's about getting back to that form.
Q. Jannik, Carlos and Novak aren't there. And Felix had to withdraw today as well. Do you feel like this is a missed or a lost opportunity?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No. I have seven of these. It's okay.
But I think with the conditions and the balls, I think there is going to be some strange-ish results, ranking wise, player wise, that you maybe don't expect during other tournaments. And, again, it's the first hard court event for us in a couple of months. I think everybody is still trying to find their form.
Q. (Inaudible).
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: The balls are just not controllable. It's the same every year. It's nothing new.
The Wilson balls are difficult, but again, that's not the reason I lost today. I think I'm just not in form yet that I was the last couple of months. I need to train, I need to practice and to find that rhythm again.
Q. Are they balls in matches specifically here in Canada or all across the U.S.?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Say that again.
Q. Are the balls a problem here especially in Canada or all across the U.S. swing?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Again, I don't want to find excuses. It's not a problem. I think it's just something that everybody has to get used to, and Canada is just the first tournament that we play with them. So it just takes time to get used to. They're very, very than all the other ones that we play with throughout the year.
Q. Tennis aside, we saw you hand a towel filled with ice to someone that was having problem with the heat. That was a nice gesture.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah. Thank you.
Q. Why did you feel like you had to do it?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think human health comes first. At the end, we were just playing a tennis match. I'll survive, even if I lose. But somebody is having health issues, it's most important to take care of them.
Q. You're used to playing in the sun, but the conditions today, how rough were they?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Nothing special. I think the European summer was very, very hot. It was hotter than today. I didn't feel anything heat wise.
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